


What are you waiting for?

by emma_ockham



Series: Lord Marbury Theatrical Muse [3]
Category: The West Wing
Genre: Extramarital Affairs, F/M, First Time, Hesitation, Library, Secret Relationship, quotes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-21
Updated: 2013-09-21
Packaged: 2017-12-27 06:32:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/975576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emma_ockham/pseuds/emma_ockham
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Lord John/Abigail Bartlet Drabble</p>
            </blockquote>





	What are you waiting for?

**Author's Note:**

> Written in response to Theatrical Muse Challenge #164: What are you waiting for

John stared at the murky garnet of the Lagavulin in his hand. The silence in the White House library could have been oppressive on any other day, but now it was a welcome contrast to the insistent drone in his head. 

_What are you waiting for?!_

It was a jab, a prod, a nudge more than a question. Yet he had been able to ignore it for over … he checked the antique steeple clock in the corner … for over twenty-five minutes. So far. 

He had seated himself in the jade green leather fauteuil between the Classics. Out of sight from anyone who entered the library, but with a view of the door between the shelves. The ornate _ex libris_ in the Cicero he pretended to be reading marked that particular volume the property of Josiah Bartlet. There was not a shred of doubt in Lord Marbury's mind as to the counsel his old champion would give him. _Nothing is more noble, nothing more venerable than fidelity._

The pungant aroma of turf, smoke and thick caramel pulled John back to his glass, and to the present. His ancient hero would never have been here, within twenty feet of her bedroom, and on her invitation too. She was expecting him… he checked the clock again ... waiting for fifteen minutes already, possibly fretting a bit because of the delay. He would understand if she was as tense about this as he was. It wasn't courteous to keep her waiting. 

_What are you waiting for?_

He knew he was stalling, hesitating, even if her invitation had thrilled him, revived him like a man lost in the desert unexpectedly stumbling upon a basin of cool restoring water. 

_Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking._ He glared at Marcus Aurelius and his unsolicited admonition. Maybe he should have chosen the tarnished armchair in the polemology corner. Sun Tzu at least would have told him that _Opportunities multiply as they are seized_.

"What are you waiting for?" 

Her voice was thick and warm, but with just a hint of apprehension. With all his focussing on the classics he had lost sight of the door. 

He rose from his chair to meet her, his decision made for him, but his decision nevertheless. Now he saw her there was no room for doubt.  
"For you, my dear. I was waiting for you."


End file.
